Lesson Plan
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Telling Stories Through Dance

For Teachers K - 2nd
Examine the movement of characters in the story, Caps for Sale. Using the text, pupils invent gestures and movements for some of the actions and major events. They practice retelling a story by using the movements they developed. They...
Lesson Plan
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Applying Ahimsa to Traditional Stories

For Teachers 2nd - 8th Standards
Investigate the life of Mahatma Gandhi by researching non-violent lifestyles. Learners define the word ahimsa and discuss the personal characteristics that made Gandhi a peaceful warrior. They also create a poster about the story "The...
Lesson Plan
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Literary Elements in Short Stories

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Introduce your class to Glogster with this literary analysis lesson. At the end of your short story unit, they choose one literary element to apply to three short stories and make an online poster using Glogster. Samples are included. If...
Lesson Plan
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Story Structure Slide Show

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Analyzing the sequence of actions in dramatic stories leads to deeper comprehension of story structure. The class identifies the main actions in each section of a story and develops frozen tableau's for the identified actions of the...
Lesson Plan
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Weaving a Story of Cooperation: The Goat in the Rug

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Weaving is an important part of Navajo culture. Read The Goat in the Rug to your fourth and fifth graders, and give them a glimpse into the process of rug making from the point of view of a goat! They will learn new vocabulary words and...
Lesson Plan
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Painted Story Quilt

For Teachers Pre-K - 12th
Emmulate some of Faith Ringgolds famous painted story quilts in your classroom. Have your class choose a story or you choose one for the whole class to portray. They will select their favorite scene to paint onto their story quilt. What...
Lesson Plan
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Cloze Instruction

For Teachers Higher Ed
Bring Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Mad Libs, and cloze activities to your college class with this lesson. They complete a cloze instruction activity in which the students choose words that would fill in the blanks and create their own...
Lesson Plan
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Story Retelling

For Teachers K
Students explore storytelling by participating in an image analysis activity. In this story structure lesson, students read the book Cookie's Week by Tomie dePaola and retell the story to their teacher in sequential order. Students...
Lesson Plan
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Exploring Contrasting Story Elements Through Tapestry and Poetry

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Young thinkers view two narrative art tapestries and study the images included that tell a story about the Roman Emperor Constantine. As they examine the details of the tapestries, pupils use a Venn Diagram to record the similarities and...
Lesson Plan
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Left-to-Right Reading

For Teachers Pre-K - K
Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 
Lesson Plan
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Frame Story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Mark Twain's frame story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" provides an opportunity for a study of this story-within-a-story pattern. Using an illustrated template, class members record a plot summary of the frame story...
Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan: Before and After a Moment in Time

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Think about a moment, frozen in time. Now take a critical look at the painting, Better, Homes, Better Gardens. This painting works to provide learners the opportunity to analyze art, critique artist's choices, and write a story inspired...
Lesson Plan
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Readers Who Struggle Can Learn From Wonderful Teacher/Student Created On-Level Reading Projects

For Teachers K - 1st
Students create their own books. In this book making lesson, students pick a subject and take photographs of it. They use these photographs to write their own story using their sight words. 
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Creating a Story that "Stacks" on Itself and Repeats a Catch Phrase

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students explore language arts by reading a classic children's story in class. In this story structure instructional activity, students read the Judith Viorst book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Students...
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Daily Writing from Self Selected Reading

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders practice their reading comprehension by analyzing stories they read in class. In this children's literature lesson, 2nd graders are assigned to read a book for 20 minutes each day in class and also reflect on it in their...
Unit Plan
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Brown Bagging with Short Stories

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students participate in a study of short story elements, applying their knowledge and understanding to a selection of short stories.  In this short stories lesson, students read five short story selections, identifying conflict,...
Lesson Plan
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And the Moral of the Story is...

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students retell a story using computer software. In this story elements lesson, students retell the story giving the plot, setting, characters and moral using Pixie software.
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Adventures in Creating Hypertext Stories

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Use hypertext to make a multimedia choose-your-own adventure story! Young writers incorporate knowledge of story writing elements to write their own stories, and rewrite the adventure with various scenarios and endings. Use technology to...
Lesson Plan
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Guided Reading: Three Little Pigs (Plus Wolf: Javalinas)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Guide your class through reading various versions of The Three Little Pigs. Talk about the traditional story line and then discuss a different point of view: Maybe the wolf was just an innocent bystander! This lesson plan, which has...
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Learning to Summarize a Story

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Young scholars with hearing loss read independently and understand what is being read to them. In this independent reading lesson plan, students sequence and discuss the book that is read.
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Dusty Locks and the Three Bears

For Teachers K
Read this twist on Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Dusty Locks and the Three Bears by Susan Lowell. Kindergartners listen, predict, and discuss the story. They then participate in a dramatization of the story and draw a picture...
Lesson Plan
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Different Strokes For Different Folktales

For Teachers K - 1st
Young readers use graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and story maps, to analyze a variety of folktales and the elements of a story. They use writing, sequencing activities, and creative art to identify the morals learned from a...
Lesson Plan
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Combining with Participial Phrases

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this instructional activity, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-instructional activity on participial phrases and reading the picture book...
Lesson Plan
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The Hatfield and McCoy Feud

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners explore West Virginia history with regard to Mountain and Appalachian Culture. They compare and contrast life now with life 100-150 years ago. They write and illustrate a short story about the life of children 100-150 years ago....